Role of Charity in the Information Age

I've been thinking alot lately regarding the role of charity & giving. Was at a seminar this past weekend, & played a game called, Cash Flow. In the game, the player has the option to donate 10% of their income to charity & gets the chance to roll more dice, when they do. Most of the players, when they landed on this space, did not donate. Why? Interesting. Got me to thinking.

Lots of us are conditioned to get, get, get, take, take, take. That form of mentality was common during the Industrial Age & is based on scarcity b/c resources were by definition limited during this age. That is why after the Great Depression, the way to survive was to get a good education, get a good job - safe, secure, lifelong, w/ good benefits.

However, in today's age, that notion is becoming obselete FAST. Now that we are in the Information Age - knowledge, information, ideas & what we do with them are key. Speed, volatility are becoming the norm. We can communicate with people overseas in our bedroom w/ just a computer & internet connection, in our boxers. We no longer have to fly to conduct business meetings. We can host webinars, telemeetings in our own living rooms.

We can see signs of the Industrial Age disappearing in previously corporate giants (GM, Ford, Chrysler) collapsing, facing bankruptcies, smaller/faster/smarter/efficient companies overtaking them, airlines facing financial issues, labor jobs being shipped overseas, the price of oil increasing.

In the Information Age - where we make our living by sharing information, knowledge, a new paradigm is emerging, & that is the concept of abundance. Since transitioning into the Information Age - ideas, thoughts, words, pictures, sounds, etc. are all abundant, they are all around us. Our economy is now based on the creating, packaging, & giving of things that are knowledge based. Multimillionaires, billionaires were created from this idea that information (an idea) can be created, marketed, & sold to the masses. Examples include: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jerry Yang, Larry Paige, Sergey Brin, etc. Other examples include rockstars, movie stars, athletes, businesses who have created a brand from their identity, experiences, accomplishments & have sold it to the masses in the form of endorsements, sponsorships, CD's, MP3's, movies, athletic products, franchises, licenses, businesses, partnerships, you name it.

So as we progress into the Information Age charity/giving will be more natural, easy, in my opinion. By reprogramming our minds from a scarcity to an abundance-based mentality, we set ourselves up for greater returns in every aspect of our lives. Here are a couple of reasons why I think giving, increases your returns:

1. It trains your mind to think in terms of abundance
2. You give to give, rather than give to receive (trains your subconscious that there's abundance)
3. Karma

The returns may be in the form of monetary returns, but it can also be in the form of lucky breaks, excellent relationships, good health, happiness.

So give whatever you can to a cause that you're passionate about - it can be to your local church, hospital, school, whatever, as long you give.

That's it. Stay tuned!